The volume published by ArchiTangle Verlag on the current Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2025 focuses on projects beyond the Western canon: on buildings in Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and other predominantly Muslim countries. They all demonstrate that architecture can make an impact even under difficult political, social and environmental conditions.
Sandra Hofmeister
Optimism in Architecture, Lesley Lokko (ed).,hardcover, 304 pages, ArchTangle, Berlin 2025 → oder now
Architecture of Confidence
In her essay “Half a Glass: Optimism and Architecture”, Lesley Lokko asks whether architecture can foster optimism. In light of the 16th Aga Khan Award, the answer is: yes. The award recognised projects in crisis-hit contexts which, as Lokko writes, “aim to produce moments and monuments that speak to a more benign and optimistic vision of the future”. The prize gives them the visibility they deserve.
© Aga Khan Trust for Culture
A prize for what we share
The Aga Khan Award is presented every three years. It recognises not only architects, but also clients, communities, craftsmanship and engineering. It was established in 1977 by Prince Karim Aga Khan to honour buildings that meet the needs of communities with a significant Muslim presence.
Majara Residence and Community Redevelopment Hormuz Island, Iran, ZAV Architects / Mohamadreza Ghodousi, © Aga Khan Trust for Culture
Beyond the Western perspective
For decades, the prize has highlighted projects that are often overlooked in Western-dominated architectural discourse. The 2025 shortlist also reflects this geographical and cultural breadth: it spans from Inner Mongolia in China to Palestine, and from Iran to Esna in Egypt, where Takween Integrated Community Development has revitalised a historic site.
© Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Mikaela Burstow (photographer)
Building in uncertain times
Among the seven awards for 2025 are Marina Tabassum Architects for the Khudi Bari project in Bangladesh and DB Studio for the Vision Pakistan educational building in Islamabad. Two of the award-winning projects are located in Iran: the Majara Residence and Community Redevelopment by ZAV Architects on the island of Hormuz, and the Jahan Metro Plaza in Tehran by KA Architecture Studio. What has become of them under current circumstances remains to be seen.
© Aga Khan Trust for Culture
Perspectives
The book opens up an architectural world that is still largely overlooked in this country. The projects are striking in their diversity: from the school campus by Kéré Architecture in Kenya to the small huts – micro-architecture for libraries – by Shau Architects in Indonesia. It is precisely this diversity that highlights just how limited the Western view of architecture often is. This makes an award such as the Aga Khan Award, which brings other realities to light, all the more important.
Optimism in Architecture
Lesley Lokko (ed).,
contributions by Azra Akšamija, Lucia Allais, David Basulto, Farrokh, Derakhshani, Yvonne Farrell, Hanif Kara, Yacouba Konaté, Lesley Lokko, Raafat, Majzoub, Deen Sharp, and Cristina Steingräber
Design: Julia Wagner, grafikanstalt
hardcover, 304 pages
Berlin 2025
ISBN 978-3-96680-040-2-
© Aga Khan Trust for Culture / City Syntax (F. M. Faruque Abdullah Shawon, H. M. Fozla Rabby Apurbo)
|
© 2021 Takween ICD / Ahmed Mostafa |
